Coronavirus thread

[jrm]

Perhaps I am being too cautious, but using ozone to disinfect masks may work -- and be dangerous. Ozone is a potent oxidizer, and it damages human cells at an alarming rate. Ozone is the main constituent of smog. Breathing even a little ozone can lead to irritation in the areas COVID-19 attacks. In addition, ozone is tough on a lot of man-made substances, causing things like seal and gasket failures.

I’m not saying it can’t be done and I’m no expert, but my understanding is the same as above. It is bad for the respiratory tract and the oxidation may damage or destroy important material in the mask. I would definitely get an expert opinion before going down that path.

[JHC]

"The coronavirus is not mutating significantly as it circulates through the human population, according to scientists who are closely studying the novel pathogen’s genetic code. That relative stability suggests the virus is less likely to become more or less dangerous as it spreads, and represents encouraging news for researchers hoping to create a long-lasting vaccine."


https://www.washingtonpost.com/healt...5b5_story.html

[Crazy Dane]

How about irradiation? It wasn't too long ago when it seemed like ever package I got had a label that said "Irradiated for your safety"

[OlongJohnson]

Just to add to the chemo/weight comments, a couple of women I know who have undergone chemo for breast cancer ended up experiencing significant weight gain, seemingly as a direct response the the drugs.

[RoyGBiv]

H2O2 should shred coronavirus just like it shreds everything else, though I've not seen any studies on it. I know that some of the gas sterilization machines in surgery use H2O2, so I assume that is close to a gold standard. I have a friend who is an EMT and I suggested that he rotate his PPE. After ~3 days most of the virus will be gone. That's not as good as sterilizing something, but decay rates are a real thing. If you only have a few items, you just have to do the best you can.

According to this study, H2O2 is effective with contact time >1 minute. See second table and onward.
CAUTION: That said, I don't see any notes on what level of saturation is required on fabric (eg PPE).

https://www.journalofhospitalinfecti...046-3/fulltext

[Stephanie B]

I sure hope that the shrinks are going to spin up their efforts post-crisis, especially if the hospitals have to start triaging the need for vents and setting people aside to die (with a morphine drip). The doctors and nurses making those decisions and then carrying them out will probably have some PTSD.

[Stephanie B]

Mr. Sluder is going to find out that his stupidity will follow him to his grave. Thus Spaketh the Internet.

He has apologized.

[scw2]

I have a quality ozone generator that I used to sanitize nicotine/tobacco in a used Ford Explorer we purchased last year. It seems that ozone kills bacteria and viruses as well. Do you think that it can be used to disinfect N95 masks if I were to set up a ‘steamer trunk’ type of a hotbox? We are almost out of masks in the Seattle area.

nothing about ozone in the following study, but looks like they recommend hot steam or oven.

https://twitter.com/@twitter/status/https://twitter.com/peterfreed/status/1242629357211987968

[CarlK]

Thanks for all of the replies. I am going with a large toaster oven at 150 degrees F for 30 mins. I will then set aside the masks for several days before reusing them.

[nalesq]

Regarding the PPE shortage problem, are there not somewhere vast stocks of government-issued full face protective masks/filters that could also be tapped? I mean, to my recollection, at least just about every soldier in the Regular Army is issued one. Every patrol officer in my city has one.

I would think that using that gear would be better than trying to wash N95 masks or using cloth bandannas or some other ghetto field expedient measure. But I haven’t seen or heard of anyone wearing that stuff yet.


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